


Proving a Myth is a Reality

by SarcasticSmiler



Series: Prompts from Netflix [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-24 07:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12007812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarcasticSmiler/pseuds/SarcasticSmiler
Summary: 'They’re as mysterious as they are majestic. Dive into the underwater world of one of nature’s most graceful creatures'Dr. B Baggins is on a quest to prove that merpeople aren't quite as mythical as academics believe, but he soon discovers that myths are a lot less of a nuisance when they're only found on the page.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've discovered that Netflix is a wonderful source for prompts when you're bored.  
> Just look at the blurb and away you go.
> 
> This one is from a documentary blurb about manta rays.

Bilbo took quick, panting breaths in a futile attempt to calm his nerves, cheeks puffing out with each one. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he paced the short span of the deck.

This was it.

After years of research and planning, scraping together and begging for funding. He was finally here, ready to take the final step.

The calm, open ocean spread out around him for as far as the eye could see, the ship’s crew bustled about as his own team fiddled with cameras and microphones.

Bilbo gripped the railing at the edge of the deck, breaths coming quicker than he’d like now.

He felt light headed, his stomach tying itself into knots.

But he could do this, he knew he could.

He hadn’t spent twenty years of his life researching for nothing. Twenty years of being belittled and sneered at by the academic community.

The whole lot of them were gossipy old busybodies, buried so deep in the archives that fieldwork was its own myth to them. They’d rather battle dust bunnies and long dead kings, than go out into the real world.

But he’d show them, he’d show them all.

They’d film the entire thing, make a documentary that’d last through the ages.

“Bilbo, y’alright there?” Bofur asked, concern lacing his tone, even as his eyes never wavered from the camera he was checking.

“I’m fine,” Bilbo huffed. “Little trouble breathing, but it’ll pass.”

“Is that so?” Bofur quirked an eyebrow, finally looking at Bilbo's pale face. “Not gunna pass out on us, are ya?”

“Nope,” Bilbo said, shaking his head resolutely for a moment before he realised how much of a bad idea that was when his vision swam.

“Bilbo, my boy!” Gandalf called, weaving his way between sailors and production crew to reach the swaying Bilbo. “Come sit down for a moment, here, drink this.”

Sitting himself down on a camera case, Bilbo gratefully accepted the tin mug full of steaming sugary tea.

“Thanks,” he croaked.

“Now then, we’ll start with you up there at the front of the ship. Don’t worry if you forget the words, my boy, we can have as many takes as you need. Then tonight, you’ll rest up, and tomorrow it’ll be down into the depths with you. Alright?”

Bilbo nodded, knuckles turning white from his grip on the mug.

He could do this.

He _wasn’t_ just some stuffy old academic.

Not good from anything but dusty old libraries and archives.

The world he studied, the world he wanted to see wasn’t truly in his books and maps. It was out there, beneath the great expanse of the ocean.

And he was going to see it, he would find his courage and he would show the world the wonders that were still out there to discover.

“We’re all set when you are!” Bofur called over, camera now set up and ready.

“It’s all down to you now, my lad,” Gandalf grinned, clapping Bilbo on the shoulder before plucking his empty mug from trembling fingers.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Bilbo stood and headed to the front of the deck, straightening his waistcoat as he went.

“Ready?” Bofur asked.

“As I'll ever be.”

“Good,” Bofur grinned. “Here we go then, take one in three...two...”

“Hello, I'm Dr Bilbo Baggins and I’d like to invite you to–”

Bilbo flinched as something small hit his head before quietly clattering to the deck.

“What on earth?” he muttered, rubbing his head while he bent down to pick up the small shell that had hit him.

“Bilbo?”

“I'm ok,” he said, slipping the shell into his pocket. “Keep filming.”

With a nod Bofur ducked down behind the camera again, giving Bilbo a thumbs up when he was ready.

“Hello, my name is Dr. Bilbo Baggins,” he started again, “and I'm here to invite you on a quest to find a creature that’s as mysterious as it is majestic. So, come and dive _ouch_!”

Spinning on his heel, Bilbo glared out at the water, just in time to see blue fins slip under the surface.

Taking a step closer to the railing, he squinted at the sea, not quite believing his eyes.

“Bilbo?” Bofur called.

“I saw something,” he murmured, hand rubbing absentmindedly at the back of his head, as he strained to see past the surface of the water.

“Probably a dolphin,” one of the crewmen said with a shrug. “Troublesome things they are.”

Bilbo hummed noncommittally.

He knew what dolphins looked like, knew their tail shapes and colours.

His heart sped up at the thought, but this time in excitement rather than the usual anxiety.

That wasn’t a dolphin.

That was something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this may have been sitting in my wip folder for quite a few months, does it seem interesting enough to continue? Or should I just quit while I'm ahead?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and comments on the first chapter! 
> 
>  
> 
> I should probably preface this by saying I basically know nothing about cameras, filming, or ships. So just roll with the bullshitting and we'll be fine.

“It worked! It actually worked!” Kíli laughed, swimming a quick, excited circle around Ori.

“I didn’t think Nori was telling the _truth_ ,” Ori mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the ‘slingshot’ in his hands.

“Let’s go try it again!”

“Kíli, no!” Fíli groaned, quickly grabbing his brother’s wrist before he could swim back up to the surface. “That human already spotted you once, we can’t risk it. If uncle finds out…”

“But uncle _won’t_ find out.”

“Won’t find out what?”

The three young mers froze at the gruff voice behind them, shoulders inching up towards their ears as they turned guiltily.

“N-nothing, Mister Dwalin,” Ori stammered, hiding his brother’s slingshot behind his back.

Dwalin merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow, folding his arms over his broad chest.

“It was Fíli’s idea!” Kíli blurted.

“No, it wasn’t!” Fíli practically squeaked, shoving at Kíli’s shoulder. “You’re the one who convinced Ori to steal Nori’s human things!”

“No, I didn’t, he did that all on his own!”

“Hey! It was _your_ idea,” Ori added, drifting out of the way as the siblings shoved and flicked at each other with their tails.

“See, Kíli! It was _your idea_! I only came to stop you from being harpooned!”

“They didn’t _have_ a harpoon! And he _barely_ saw my tail if anything!”

“Well- “

“ _Enough!_ ” Dwalin roared. “What do you _mean_ he barely saw your tail?!”

All three clamed up once again, staring wide eyed at the burly mer.

Dwalin’s dark tail flicked sharply as he swam up to them.

“Answer me,” he growled through gritted teeth, “or I’ll enrol the lot of you into the guards.”

“The human on the boat!” Ori blurted at the threat, he wasn’t cut out to be a guard. He helped Mister Balin with the archives and wove seaweed, he wouldn’t survive the guards. “We were trying out Nori’s slingshot and Kíli stayed up too long. We think the human saw his fins.”

“Tattletale,” Kíli pouted, knocking Ori’s shoulder with his own.

“You almost exposed us all because you wanted to play with Nori’s things?” Dwalin sighed long-sufferingly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was getting too old for this. “I think I’ll be having a little chat with that brother of yours. Now hand it over, kid.”

Meekly, Ori passed Dwalin the slingshot.

“And the stones.”

Kíli handed over his bag.

“Human things are _not_ to be played with, they’re _dangerous_. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Dwalin,” they chorused.

“Now be off with you, swim straight home. No detours!”

The three shot off through the water before Dwalin had even finished speaking, their colourful tails flashing in the muted sunlight.

Looking up at the dark shadow of a ship on the surface, Dwalin sighed, he'd have to tell Thorin and get Nori to scout it out. It very rarely, if ever, ended well when humans became interested in them, but if they could scout it out first then they could at least minimise their losses.

-x-

“How you doin’, Bilbo?” Bofur asked, dropping down on the bench beside the sea gazing academic.

“I'm quite alright, thank you Bofur,” Bilbo answered, clutching his tea to his chest as Bofur jostled him.

“Not seen any more mysterious tails flapping about in the water?”

“No,” Bilbo sighed.

“Well I've got something that might help with that,” Bofur grinned, hauling a small, rather nondescript box onto his lap.

“And what might that be?”

“It's one of those motion capture cameras. Y’know the kind where if it picks up movement it starts filming?”

 Bilbo nodded slowly, a frown tugging at his eyebrows. He’d seen such cameras used in the nature documentaries he watched, but only ever on land.

“Good. Well Bifur’s had a tinker with a few of these babies so we can stick ‘em to the side of the ship.”

“And by tinker you mean ‘wrapped in plastic and duct tape’.”

“Eh,” Bofur shrugged, “if it works, it works. Don't knock it till you've tried it.”

“I suppose you're right,” Bilbo conceded hesitantly.

“Have a little faith, doc, we'll get some footage of your little beasties if they out there.”

“There's no ‘if' about it, Bofur,” Bilbo snapped, voice sharpening for a moment at the insinuated disbelief, before softening again as he turned to look out at the sea. “They're out there. Somewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet no one guessed it was Ori flinging stuff at poor Bilbo.
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out tail colours for everyone. Kili is blue, Fili is a golden colour because I'm thoroughly unoriginal, and of course Thorin is blue, though a darker blue than Kili. But everyone else? Not sure yet. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, especially for Ori, I'm completely stumped on him.  
> Of the Company only Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur are human, all the other dwarves are mers.  
> So any colour ideas, just let me know either here or [tumblr](http://sarcasticsmilerrandomness.tumblr.com/).


End file.
